A place to interact with political activist and former Libertarian Gubernatorial Candidate, Loretta Nall. This blog covers Alabama politics, drug policy reform with emphasis on marijuana laws, medical marijuana, prison reform, voting rights, equal rights for gays and lesbians, ballot access reform and other social justice oriented issues.

Friday, November 19, 2010

Loretta Nall vs. Senator Jeff Sessions

I may have mentioned a time or two on this blog my intense dislike of one Senator Jeff Sessions, the white supremacist, douche bag, Howdy Doody look alike Republican US Senator from Alabama. May have mentioned it. If not then let me say again that I have an intense dislike for this buffoon. How he continues to get elected is baffling....but he does. I've never voted for him and never will unless he is a contestant in a Hodwy Doody look alike contest.

I will say that in his long, disappointing career he has done two things that I consider decent. Those two things are the last two things one would expect from Senator Jeff Sessions, seeing as how he once said he thought the Ku Klux Klan was ok until he learned some of them consumed marijuana. He co-sponsored a bill to stop prisoner rape and he supported a bill to remove the powder/crack cocaine disparity in sentencing. He didn't go nearly far enough on the powder/crack sentencing reduction. It was a 20 to 1 disparity and he thought getting it down to 5 to 1 was good enough. It isn't.

Now Jeff has shown himself for the true hypocrite that he is. During the confirmation hearings for DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart Sessions had the following to say.

Perhaps due to the failure of Prop 19 in California (and despite the passage of medical marijuana in Arizona), Kohl, along with Democratic Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Al Franken of Minnesota, made no mention of medical marijuana. Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, however, made it his prime focus.

“I’m a big fan of the DEA,” said Sessions, before asking Leonhart point blank if she would fight medical marijuana legalization.

“I have seen what marijuana use has done to young people, I have seen the abuse, I have seen what it’s done to families. It’s bad,” Leonhart said. “If confirmed as administrator, we would continue to enforce the federal drug laws.”

“These legalization efforts sound good to people,” Sessions quipped. “They say, ‘We could just end the problem of drugs if we could just make it legal.’ But any country that’s tried that, Alaska and other places have tried it, have failed. It does not work,” Sessions said.

“We need people who are willing to say that. Are you willing to say that?” Sessions asked Leonhart.

“Yes, I’ve said that, senator. You’re absolutely correct [about] the social costs from drug abuse, especially from marijuana,” Leonhart said. “Legalizers say it will help the Mexican cartel situation; it won’t. It will allow states to balance budgets; it won’t. No one is looking [at] the social costs of legalizing drugs.

Now, let me get this straight. Jeff Sessions is supposedly a strong supporter of States Rights....yet he wants the DEA to continue to violate States Rights and directives from the DoJ to leave alone those states which have passed medical marijuana laws? Hell, even my old buddy Troy King got this right when he filed an amicus brief on behalf of Angel Raich when she took former US Attorney General to the Supreme Court over medical marijuana.

Jeff Sessions is adamantly opposed to socialized medicine which he and others define as the government getting in between doctor and patient...yet he wants the government to do just that where medical marijuana is concerned? That is the definition of socialized medicine.

Sessions says that no countries which have legalized marijuana have seen improvements? And then he mentions Alaska....which isn't a country BTW, and which has seen very real success with their experiment of allowing up to 4 ounces of marijuana in the privacy of ones own home. Even Sarah Palin, who Sessions likely worships and fantasizes about, said that someone smoking a joint in the privacy of their own home does not rise to the level of needing to be interfered with.....that government has more important things to do. For once I agree with her.

And what about Portugal, which decriminalized all drug use in 2001? How do their drug use rates compare to the US?

"Compared to the European Union and the U.S., Portugal's drug use numbers are impressive. Following decriminalization, Portugal had the lowest rate of lifetime marijuana use in people over 15 in the E.U.: 10%. The most comparable figure in America is in people over 12: 39.8%. Proportionally, more Americans have used cocaine than Portuguese have used marijuana."

Looks to me like Portugal is faring far better than the US.

And stop this nonsense that marijuana destroys lives. It is the damn laws that destroy lives. If marijuana in and of itself destroyed lives then people like George Bush, Sarah Palin, Bill Clinton, Barak Obama, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington would have had their lives destroyed from it's consumption. But they didn't....and neither has anyone else.

We have had marijuana prohibition in place since the 1937 Tax Act and the days of racist enforcer Henry Anslinger. And name one positive thing it has brought us. Has prohibition stopped people from getting marijuana? No. What it has done is turn a natural plant that anyone who wants it could grow into a commodity that is worth about as much as gold and thereby funded violent, dangerous Mexican cartels who make 61% of their profits from the importation of marijuana into the US.

Has it stopped kids from having unfettered access to marijuana? No. It has provided unfettered access to marijuana. Drug dealers don't ask for ID and they never will until the sale of marijuana is brought under regulation.

Prohibition has filled our prison system to bursting with non-violent people who have no business there. In Alabama our prison system is running at 195% capacity in large part because of this damn drug war. You think Sessions cares?

So, I will run against Senator Jeff Sessions in 2014. In order to do that I will need ballot access. And for that I will need the signature of every Alabama citizen who is tired of people like Jeff Sessions talking out both sides of their mouth and keeping in place the laws which have proven destructive, wasteful and futile. Please download the ballot access petition HERE fill it out and mail it to me at...

Print out loads of them and have all your friends, family and co-workers sign it. We have to get signatures which equal 3% of the votes cast in this last gubernatorial election. I am not sure what the exact number is but will inquire with the Secretary of States office today. Seems to me like I only need 5000 to qualify for federal office and not 3% of the ballots cast in the last gubernatorial election.

If we get started now then getting my name on the ballot should be no problem. Let's roll!

1) Health Care - I don't think government should be involved in healthcare. All they do is fuck stuff up. That being said I think if there is any opting out to be done then it should be up to the individual to opt out and not the state as a whole.

2) Foreign Policy(terror,etc.) - My view is that if we would stop running around the world fucking with people and installing puppet dictatorships then the rest of the world wouldn't hate us or want to blow us to smithereens. I'm something of an isolationist...I believe in the use of force only if we are attacked.

3) Abortion - I am pro-choice. It is a terrible decision to have to make and the government a religious wing nuts have no place in that decision.

4) Economic Policy (Fed. Reserve, Trade, Debt,etc.) - I believe we should go back to the Gold Standard so and completely do away with the Fed reserve. That way the govt can't just print up all the money it needs every time it claims to need it and devalue the dollar with every print.

I would open up trade with Cuba. Currently we are only allowed to sell them chickens and lumber. The market is wide open and things are changing in Cuba.

Debt - I would start by legalizing marijuana to pay down the debt. I know that in and of itself would not be enough, so there would be loads of wasteful spending I would look at cutting. That's one of those things that one has to see in full to know where all the cuts could be made. 7:35 AM

I would also push a bill to completely do away with the DEA and propose a Constitutional Amendment on drug policy along the lines of "All drug use is legal so long as no one is harming or coercing an unwilling party into doing something they do not want to do. Doing away with the DEA would save billions and making all adult drug use legal would clear out both the fed and state prisons where more billions would be saved.

Does any such office exist? The way I see it I am unlikely to ever be elected because I believe in the Constitution and speak the truth.Therefore I am considered a radial. Those seem to be automatic dis-qualifiers for holding public office.

But perhaps Republicans will make a mess out of things (both parties seem incapable of doing anything else) and when 2014 rolls around who knows what will happen?

Loretta, the last election cycle results both nationally and at state levels in several states indicates that constitutionalists who speak the truth as you do can win with the support of like-minded voters IF they have the financial resources to combat their opponent. On that basis I hate to say that I don’t think you can compete with Sessions.

If you have the stomach for it, I'd love to see you run whether or not you win. That said, Terry Sewell just proved that the big money is less important than a clear, positive message. Her constituency valued an issues-based campaign, and I think that her refusal to get into down-and-dirty character assassination attracted voters who cared more about her ability to represent them than whether she could compete for the moral high road. If you were to run a campaign focused on improving Alabama's track record on education, human rights, and job creation (not a single note campaign to legalize marijuana) I think the results would be close.

I have not read too much into you but I am concerned. Before I say this keep in mind that I WILL vote for you! This said, I think I speak for alot of us when I say that your posts on the web have little backbone. I agree with being a radical but in running for office, you fighting a realistic battle is more important than your views. Everyone wants to change the world because we all know it is fucked up! But you have to start with what you can. And especially with your views on the reform of marijuana laws, a candidate in which the citizens of Alabama are desperate for... I personally would just like to see you win. And I know your financial situation might not be up to fighting Sessions, but I think if you get close, people are going to look back on everything you are saying from now until then and some of the things I have read that you have posted leave little to be desired for. I think if you are really serious about this then you should show a little more sense of, and I hate to say this but professionalism! And that means really getting in touch with these issues and not just stating that they are all "fucked up". Anyone can do that! Please. This state needs help, consider every voter when you speak!

The link for the ballot access petition is for the general election to be held November 2, 2010. Since this date is in the past, do we need to use a different form specific to the 2014 election? I'd hate to see our signatures thrown out because we did not use an up-to-date form.